STAY GOLD

There are a series of shots in Francis Ford Coppola's 'The Outsiders' (1983) where the symbolism of a sunrise is elevated to poetic transcendence using a rare, hyper-stylised approach which seems appropriate as the director appears to be deliberately referencing the cinema of the era in which the story itself is set - the 1950s.

In fact, not since Scarlet O Hara's silhouette set against a crimson sun in George Cukor's 'Gone With The Wind' (1939) has there been such a dramatic use of a sunrise/sunset on film. This reference seems especially congruent as the two central characters from 'The Outsiders', Johnny and Pony Boy, read from the novel of 'Gone With The Wind' in an abandoned church in Windrixville where they hide after being involved in a accidental knife crime back in Tulsa. This visual effect for 'The Outsiders' was achieved by displaying a slowed down golden red sunrise projected onto a giant screen at the Tulsa State Fairground that resembles the famous illustrated sunset on the front cover of the 'Oklahoma' original movie soundtrack. It takes a certain amount of courage on behalf of the director to pull this off without it seeming overwhelmingly saccharine. I believe he delivers it beautifully because he believes sincerely in the plight of the characters he portrays.

As the sunrise scene plays out between the two teenage runaways there is a multi layered sense of melancholy that infuses the scene. One is a melancholy for a lost age of cinema that finds its roots in vivid melodramas from the 50s/60s such as Vincente Minnelli's 'Home From The Hill' (1960) and 'Some Came Running' (1958) as well as iconic James Dean films such as 'Rebel Without A Cause' (1955) and 'East Of Eden (1955). The second is the subtle foreshadowing of Johnny's death when Pony Boy quotes the Robert Frost poem 'Nothing Gold Can Stay' he's been studying at school. He claims not to have understood the words until now where the sunrise appears before him. This is quite a powerful notion - the idea that one doesn't experience the meaning of something until you realise it for yourself in your own reality. That alignment between the poet/writer and the reader travels across time and can be realised in any moment or any century and is what distinguishes truly great art from the commonplace. What makes this scene even sadder still is that the meaning of the poem applies to both their lost youths (as a result of the crime they became embroiled in) and Johnny's death (which seems more apparent on a re-watch than the first time viewing).

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

The original score by composer Carmine Coppola complements this scene beautifully though I believe there are two versions of the film with different soundtracks (one more orchestral and one more Rock and Roll orientated). I've provided links to both below so that you can compare.

Regardless of which you may prefer, I think it's clear to see that Coppola achieves a stunningly tender moment between two vulnerable young boys who are rapidly beginning to realise they're out of their depth with the stark reality that faces them.

It's also worth remembering that the original novel 'The Outsiders' was written by Tulsa-born S.E Hinton, a nineteen year old woman who delivered possibly the most celebrated teenage novel of all time, or at least after 'The Catcher In The Rye' by J.D Salinger.

Perhaps it took someone still fresh out their adolescence to write with such clear hearted empathy for characters so close to her own age.